After being set free by Nightmare Moon, Celestia has to live a normal life. However new problems loom overhead.
A week after being freed from her prison by Nightmare Moon, Celestia has adapted to her new situation, she is prohibited from being involved in politics or any kind of decision making, Celestia isn't even allowed control over her precious sun. But this has given her the opportunity for a new career and she is about to open her own bakery.
Not all prisons have bars and guard towers. Celestia will experience first hoof how it is to live in Nightmare Moon's Lunar Empire. She will have to learn to be watched constantly and have every move of her observed and noted.
The Lunar Empire is firmly under Nightmare Moon's control, but there are still those that prefer the old way's over the new ones. And of course there is the issue of Rarity's remaining friends, where are they and what are they planning.
This is not a direct sequel to Fractured Moon but I still recommend reading it first to get some more context about the founding Lunar Empire and Celestia's release.
Set in the Equestria at War universe, but you don't need to play the mod to understand this story.
Celestia was squinting her eyes while she carefully nudged the picture frame with her magic, she took a quick peek at her spirit level to confirm if the picture frame was completely horizontal which luckily for her it was. Very carefully Celestia released the picture frame from her magic, making sure she didn't move it again unintentionally and being forced to repeat the process again. She took a few steps backwards and smiled.
"Perfect." She happily congratulated herself.
The picture frame contained a picture of Nightmare Moon, which according to the law every citizen was required to have displayed in their home and business if they had one. Not only that but the picture was also required to be in a clearly visible place, be dusted regularly and had to be positioned completely level. Failure to follow these laws could be punished with a prison sentence up to ten years. According to a passer by the punishment used to be even higher and some ponies where even executed.
The former princess looked around and she couldn't help but smile. Celestia had bought a small bakery in Canterlot using the bits given to her by Nightmare Moon. The bakery looked lovely and she had build it herself, she couldn't remember the last time she had actually done something herself other than raising the sun or making breakfast. It wasn't a very large place but it was good enough, Celestia wasn't interested in being the biggest or the best, she just wanted to have a normal job and live a normal life.
Anything was better than the prison she spent the last year in. Celestia still didn't completely understand the circumstances of her release, all Celestia knew was that there was some sort of uprising against Nightmare Moon and that because of that Nightmare Moon realised that violence would only lead to more violence and that she was released from prison in order to appease the population and break the cycle of perpetual violence.
However a short glance at Nightmare Moon's portrait and remembering the rules surrounding it made it clear that her sister had not completely gotten rid of her violent tendencies. Celestia sighed, the days of harmony and friendship where truly over, the only thing she could do now was simply trying to live her life and survive.
To that end she trotted towards her oven to check on her cakes. She opened the door and the absolutely delightful smell that subsequently filled the room signalled to her that her very first cakes were ready. Of course she had baked many cakes before this, in fact her love for them was legendary in Equestria, this was also the reason why she wanted to start her own bakery, to spread her love for cakes to others, but these were the first ones that were meant to be sold. This was going to be her live from now on, waking up, baking cakes, selling them, going to bed again and rinse and repeat.
An hour of hard work later and Celestia was finally ready to begin her first day as a baker. The former princess wiped some sweat off her forehead, she hadn't worked this hard in a very long time. She casually trotted to the front door. The white alicorn took one final look at her baked delicacies to see if something was wrong before flipping to "closed" sign to "open".
It took some time for the first customer to arrive. Celestia mentally facehooved herself for somehow getting the idea that everypony in the area would somehow flock to her bakery the second it opened. She shouldn't have read all those fairy tales where everything always instantly goes perfect, then again Luna used to love it when she read her those stories to her before bedtime.
A feeling of sadness suddenly overwhelmed Celestia.
"How could things have come to this?" She wondered.
One moment things were fine, then she put Luna in contact with the elements of harmony to mend the relationship between batponies and ponies, which apparently wasn't going too well but there weren't any major problems or anything that warranted a violent approach. Yet that is exactly what happened, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon again but this time she didn't just fight against her but she also waged war against Equestria as a whole using her new batpony allies and Rarity.
"Rarity." Celestia mumbled.
It was one of the lesser known aspects of the war, how it broke the elements of harmony apart. On the other hoof it was hard to focus on the lives of six ponies during a war where hundreds of thousands of ponies would eventually die. Celestia didn't know the exact number, at first she read every casualty rapport but it just broke her heart reading about all those ruined lives and torn apart families. So she stopped reading them eventually.
The remaining elements fought by her side courageously but they could simply not hold Nightmare Moon back, they could match her armies in the field but they could not match her ruthlessness, every city or town that they fortified was simply destroyed by Nightmare Moon's artillery and air force. When she realised that the war was lost and all she could do was pointlessly delay the inevitable and cause more of her precious little ponies to die, Celestia surrendered to Nightmare Moon.
In a final act of defiance, Celestia had send Twilight and her friends to the Crystal Empire. Twilight was like a daughter to her and she couldn't live with herself if Twilight died. Tears started to form in Celestia's eyes.
"What kind of horrible princess am I? sending hundreds of thousands of ponies to their deaths while saving six." She thought to herself.
In the end it didn't even matter, the Crystal Empire fell soon after Equestria. She hadn't heard anything about the remaining elements of harmony or Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart after being set free. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that Rarity wouldn't harm any of her former friends, but she didn't think that Rarity was capable of joining Nightmare Moon either.
Celestia looked outside at all the ponies living their lives, going to work or having breakfast. Sometimes she wondered whether she gave up too easily. Maybe she should have continued to fight, maybe she should fight right now, try to give these ponies a better future. Then again now these ponies were alive, in chains and at the mercy of her sister, but at least they were alive.
"Am I a coward?" She silently wondered.
Before Celestia could answer her question a bell rang and the door of her bakery opened. A light blue unicorn mare with a dark blue periwinkle mane and tail walked inside. Celestia quickly put on her kindest smile, on of the perks of being a princess for several thousand years was that she became very good at hiding her emotions. She turns to the mare and begins to speak in a very sweet voice.
"Welcome to Rainbow Delight (She mentally cringed at hearing the name out loud. Coming up with a good name turned out to be very difficult without the Equestrian Naming Department to help her), how can I help you?"
The mare whom Celestia recognised as Minuette had a dull expression on her face but when she saw Celestia she led out a surprised gasp and continued to stare at her, not moving.
"Minuette would you perhaps be interested in a chocolate cake?" Celestia asked again, trying to get a response.
Finally the light blue coated mare realised where she was.
"Uhm y-y-yes p-please. Princess Celestia! What are you doing here and how do you remember my name?"
The white alicorn grabbed a chocolate cake and carefully packed it in a box, she also added in a slice of apple pie, for free of course, it may not have been the wisest business move but imagining the smile on the Minuette's face when she would see the extra slice was payment enough for Celestia. She finished it by wrapping a bright pink ribbon around the box.
"Here you go." She says while handing over the box. "And you can just call me Celestia, there is no need for titles anymore. To answer you question, I have been released from prison, so I thought why not turn my hobby into my new job. And I try to remember the names of all the students of the School of Gifted Unicorns, it always warmed my heart seeing you, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine trying to become friends with Twilight even though back then she was more interested in studying. I am not sure if I ever mentioned it but I was very proud of you back then."
The light blue mare radiated happiness at this point.
"I always thought that you forgot all about us after our graduation. I never imagined that we managed to impress you in such a way. I am glad I met you here, it is nice seeing a friendly face around here with all that is going on."
"Did something bad happened while I was gone?" Celestia asked. She may not have been a princess anymore but that wouldn't stop her from caring about her fellow ponies.
"Of course not! Nightmare Moon is the best leader we ever had, her beautiful moon brightens all of our hearts!"
Minuette spoke in the happiest way possible but Celestia could sense that she was lying, no creature smiled in such an exaggerated way normally. One quick glance outside revealed why, on the street opposite the bakery sat a batpony wearing a trench coat and hat, he held a newspaper in his hooves but it was very obvious that he was looking at Celestia and Minuette.
Celestia figured that he was there mostly to spy on her and not her customers. She was after all the former ruler so naturally Nightmare Moon would want to know what her sister was up to.
"I have to go to work now but thank you for speaking to me, it means the world to me that I made you proud. I will see if I can get Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine to come with me next time. We can make a little reunion. Bye"
"I would very much like that and I hope to see you again soon."
After Minuette left it was Celestia's turn to beam with happiness. Seeing one of her former students become so happy after a simple conversation and some cake, it truly meant the world to her. Celestia now knew that this was the right place for her.
The sound of angry screams and broken porcelain filled the hallways of the Lunar Castle, the new name given to the rebuild Castle of the Two Sisters which now served as the capital of the Lunar Empire.
Rarity was working in her office, even though she was the governess of the Moon Crystal Governorate, the name of the Crystal Empire after it's occupation by the Lunar Empire, she spend most of the time in the Lunar Castle. After all the commotion surrounding Stary Glory and his batpony supremacist insurrection, Nightmare Moon wanted her best friend nearby.
It was already getting late, the sun had set and Rarity was about to call it a day and go to bed. When the sound of the screaming reached the governess she immediately stood up. She recognised the voice as belonging to Nightmare Moon. Rarity quickly left her office to look for the source of the scream. Something had to be terribly wrong for her queen and friend to be so angry.
A quick glance around the hallway confirmed to source of the sound. The hallway was filled with ponies and batponies frozen in place, no-one dared to move, fearful that by doing so that they would somehow become the victim of her wrath. All of their eyes were directed at the doors to the dining hall so Rarity assumed that Nightmare Moon had to be there.
She calmly walked towards the door, Rarity had worked with Nightmare Moon even when she was still Luna and she had joined Nightmare Moon the moment the war began, not because she agreed with a violent solution, far from it, in fact she was the one that tried to convince Luna not to resort to violence.
It was just that after Luna's transformation she couldn't bring herself to abandon Luna, they had spent month's together trying to peacefully support the integration of batponies into Equestrian society, because of this Rarity became as close to Luna as to her other friends. It was a difficult choice to make but in the end her friendship with Luna and her sympathy for the batpony cause won over her friendship with Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Starlight Glimmer and Spike.
Rarity wondered what happened to her friends, she knew that they most likely hated her for joining Nightmare Moon, but she still cared about them. Starlight Glimmer who had not been involved in the war had moved together with Trixie to Manehattan and we're living a regular life there. However she had no idea what happened to her other friends, military intelligence reported that they fled to the Crystal Empire when Equestria surrendered but when the Crystal Empire fell they hadn't been found.
The territory of the Moon Crystal Governorate was very large and the terrain was exceptionally difficult to traverse so no major search for them had been attempted. Rarity hoped that her friends were still alive somewhere and that one day she would see them again, she could convince them that Nightmare Moon wasn't so bad as they thought and they could all be friends again, though she realised that it would be exceptionally difficult to do that.
The white unicorn was so lost in thought about what might be that she forgot why she was here in the first place.
"Oh right! Nightmare Moon's angry outburst." She sheepishly stated to no-one in particular.
The governess opened the door. Inside she found an absolutely livid black alicorn. Normally her mane would flow like a weak breeze was blowing through it, yet now it was waving like there was a storm going through it. Rarity also swore that there was a faint red flow to Nightmare Moon's mane like it was about to catch fire.
Nightmare Moon herself was standing in the middle of the room, several pieces of food and what remained of a plate decorated the wall next to her and an empty folder and several pictures and papers were spread over the floor. Rarity walked over to her friend.
"What happened?" she investigated.
"My sister happened!" Nightmare Moon spat with soo much venom that Rarity thought that she was trying to kill Celestia with her words alone.
This surprised the white unicorn, Celestia had seemed to be very accepting of her sister's terms, so Rarity couldn't imagine that Celestia would break them, let alone so soon.
"I am sorry that you misjudged Celestia. If it is any consolation I also didn't think that she would rebel against you."
"What are you talking about?! Celestia is following her terms of release just fine and that is exactly the problem, she does exactly what I asked of her and she still manages to one up me!" The black alicorn yelled, the final statement was followed by the slamming of her hooves against the ground, the sound echoed through the room.
At this point Rarity was completely clueless at what was going on.
"What has Celestia done then?"
Nightmare Moon picked up the photo's lying on the ground with her magic and floated them towards Rarity who took them in her own magic to take a closer look. The photographs showed Celestia working in her bakery, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Celestia was just selling cakes and pies and making small talk with her customers and the rapport mentioned that most of the customers left very happy. However before Rarity could ask what was wrong Nightmare Moon began to speak.
"This is just her first day and she is already stealing MY spotlight. Ponies all over Canterlot are talking about how Celestia's delicacies are brighting up their days and how open she is or how she takes time to talk with all of her customers. I am supposed to bright up their days! I build this country!"
"And I am sure that everypony loves you becau-"
"And her cakes aren't even that good! Just taste this so called cream pie of her that I had one of my spies buy." Nightmare Moon floated over a piece to Rarity "It is absolutely disgusting but just because my sister made it everypony loves it for some reason!"
Rarity took a bit and it tasted absolutely perfect. It didn't surprise her however, with the amount of cakes and pie's that Celestia ate, if anyone knew everything there was about baked delicacies it was her. Nightmare Moon's intense scowl however told Rarity that it was not in her best interest to voice that opinion.
"Yes it tastes totally disgusting, the worst cake I have ever had." Rarity tried her best to appear convincing but she wasn't sure if she managed to pull it off. The heavenly taste of the cream pie was so good that it was difficult to lie about it.
the queen of the Lunar Empire snorted upon hearing Rarity's words and continued her rant.
"Indeed. It is just like back when I first transformed into this form a thousand years ago. Everypony loved Celestia and ignored me, it didn't matter what I did. If I tried to tell a story I was ignored by everypony but if she told the exact same stories then they would all listen to her intensely. She would relish in all the attention and then she would have the nerve to tell me that being in the spotlight wasn't important and that ponies cared about me too! Well excuse me sister but I never had the luxury of being naturally loved by everypony!"
Nightmare Moon was fuming with anger again at this point, her blood boiled and all of the memories and traumas from the past resurfaced, being left in the dark while Celestia bathed in the spotlights. The feeling of loneliness, that no creature cared about what she thought. Rarity seeing her friend was about to explode thought that it would be best to calm her done before she would do something rash.
"Don't worry too much about it, so what if Celestia manages to make her customers happy, you are still the one in charge and when it comes to matters of the state you are the one ponies will turn to for guidance. You ended the discrimination of the batponies when Celestia couldn't. Your sister can never take those things away from you."
The dark alicorn seemed to contemplate Rarity's words, slowly the gears in her head were turning, trying to come up with a way to turn these words into something concrete. When she did an evil smile appeared on Nightmare Moon's face.
"You are right my friend, I have succeeded where my she failed and she may be able to take some of MY ponies away from me but she can never take my successes away from me, I have build a better society than she ever could, our armies are stronger then they ever were under Celestia's rule and I have turned our nation from a weak agricultural society into a strong industrialised one. But do you know what I can do Rarity?"
The queens smile was so sinister at this point that it actually began to frighten Rarity. Nightmare Moon however paid no attention to her friend, she was too busy monologuing.
"I can take my sisters successes away from her! I will take Celestia's biggest success and reform it in my image. Then it will be clear to everypony that my sister is nothing but a weak failure and I shall be the favourite sister!"
She didn't show it but Rarity was becoming quite scared by Nightmare Moon's words. Everypony of course knew about Luna's and her alter ego's history, but to see the effect it had on Nightmare Moon, how it affected the way she perceived the world, that was something else entirely. She was afraid to ask it but it felt like she had no choice.
"What is it that you plan on taking away from Celestia!"
Nightmare Moon stepped closer to Rarity, her expression being a combination of excitement and malice.
"I am going to take away that what she cares about the most. Her friends! You're friends! You are going back to the Moon Crystal Governorate and you will track them down and capture them, alive! And then I will sway them to join our cause and my dear sister will be all alone."
The white unicorn definitely wasn't a fan of this approach, most of all because it humiliating Celestia wouldn't solve the issues between the sisters. But even if it would, getting the remaining elements of harmony to join Nightmare Moon would be almost impossible, and that is if she could even find them. She had tried it right after taking power but there were simply too many hiding places in the mountains. However Rarity wasn't going to say no to her best friend and queen, especially not when she was in a state like this.
"Sure... But there is still the major problem of having to find them first. The crystal wastelands are big with an almost infinite hiding places and the Moon Crystal army simply isn't big enough to search everywhere. I would need like an additional hundred thousand soldiers to even begin a proper search."
"Then it is settled. I will give you five hundred thousand of my soldiers to bolster the Moon Crystal Army."
Rarity just blinked, surely she misheard that right, that would be almost half of the Lunar Army.
"Isn't that a bit too much?"
"If you say that you need a hundred thousand then I will give you five times more. I will also send construction units to build extra supply depots and two air fleets of transport aircraft. That way you will have all the troops and supplies that you need and you will have no more excuses for failure, if they are still hiding there you will find them. Is that clear?"
Rarity gulped nervously. She had never seen Nightmare Moon like this.
"Crystal clear."
With that Rarity left, no doubt heading straight to the Moon Crystal Governorate to begin the search. Nightmare Moon didn't pay it much attention, she was too busy looking through one of the windows in the dining room, her sight was firmly directed at Canterlot.
"My dear dear sister, you have outshined me for the last time."
It was cold, it was boring, they couldn't help Equestria, it was boring, she couldn't practice stunts, she couldn't prank anypony, it was boring, the Wonderbolts probably didn't exist anymore and lastly and most importantly, it was boring. Rainbow Dash was angrily stomping around. For almost a year now they have been sitting in this cave with Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart.
According to Twilight it was so that one day they could return and set up a resistance against Nightmare Moon. But to Rainbow Dash it just seemed like waiting and doing nothing, which were the two things she hated the most, yes she did took a lot of naps but naps were actually useful, saving energy for when you really needed it. This however was just waiting for something that deep down everypony here knew was never going to happen.
The last couple of days have been particularly bad for Rainbow Dash because the increase in aerial reconnaissance meant that she couldn't leave the cave at all. The cave itself wasn't so bad, everypony present helped to turn it into something that resembled a home. Twilight, Cadence and Shining used their magic to build furniture while Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike and herself went looking for food and water, Pinkie just sat down and looked in front of her, having lost the will to do anything.
Rainbow Dash eventually had enough from pacing back and forth and decided to sit down. She missed Scootaloo, they may not have been biologically related but Rainbow Dash saw and treated Scootaloo like a little sister. It didn't hurt that Scootaloo absolutely adored her. Rainbow Dash hoped that Scootaloo and Applebloom were doing alright. When Celestia send them to the Crystal Empire everypony agreed that it would be safer for their sisters to remain in Ponyville. They didn't want to endanger them by bringing them along to fight a war.
Applejack had continued working on the farm during the war, so to suddenly have to say goodbye was hard for her, family has always been the most important thing in the Apple family, so leaving them behind to continue the war was hard but in the end Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom understood that it was necessary for Applejack to leave and that defeating Nightmare Moon was more important than family. The irony didn't escape Rainbow Dash, they had left to continue the war but the only thing that changed was that they had lost even more and were further away from defeating Nightmare Moon than when they left.
She would never admit it but a small part of Rainbow Dash even missed Rarity. She was fun to have around even though they didn't have a lot of things in common, but that was what made it fun, they would constantly learn new things about each other and in general. Rarity also would have made sure that the cave that they occupied felt like an actual home instead of the prison that it currently felt like. But Rarity wasn't here, instead she sided with Nightmare Moon.
The blue pegasus was shaking her head. How could Rarity betray them, they have been friends since they were fillies, even when Rarity opened her boutique in Canterlot she chose to remain with her friends in Ponyville. They fought together against Equestria's enemies, from Chrysalis and the changelings to Tirek, yet when Nightmare Moon returned Rarity sided with her instead of her friends.
The worst part was that Rarity didn't seem to have been brainwashed or that she went crazy. For some reason Rarity had willingly chosen to join Equestria's enemies. Tears started to form in Rainbow Dash's eyes. She should have joined Rarity in helping Luna. That way she could have convinced Rarity not to listen to Nightmare Moon and continue the fight for friendship and harmony. Although looking at where they are now, maybe Rarity was right all along.
Here they were, trying to continue a war that everypony involved in knew that they had lost. Nightmare Moon had won and Equestria was no more, replaced by the Lunar Empire. The rainbow maned pegasus was getting more and more tired of this war, the death and destruction that it brought upon it's citizens and the families that it had torn apart. As chief of the equestrian air force she saw firsthoof the devastating effects of the war and how Equestria was torn apart by the Lunar Empire. Maybe it was time to throw in the towel.
It was difficult for Rainbow Dash, she was the element of loyalty, everypony looked at her for moral support, she was the tower of strength of all those who opposed Nightmare Moon. Soldiers adored her and posters depicting her lined the walls of barracks urging the occupants to be loyal like her. And yet she had more and more trouble staying loyal herself.
Rainbow Dash found herself being wrapped in something warm. She looked up from the grey ground that she had been looking at straight into Fluttershy's kind eyes, she had wrapped one of her wings around Rainbow Dash. She couldn't help but smile, Fluttershy was just so kind and innocent. Miraculously she seemed to be mostly unaffected by the war even though she had seen her fair share of death and destruction working as a nurse.
"What is wrong Dashie?" Fluttershy asked, her voice not much louder than a whisper.
"I don't know for how long I can just sit here and do nothing."
"Don't worry I am sure that Twilight and Cadence will come up with a plan soon and then everything will be alright."
Hearing those words coming from Fluttershy was enough for Rainbow Dash to restore her faith in the future.
Meanwhile Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the entrance of the cave looking at the aircraft flying overhead while making sure to remain in the shadows. It surprised her that Nightmare Moon was following the same day-night cycle as Celestia had, but maybe and hopefully Nightmare Moon had realised that an eternal darkness wouldn't be sustainable. Twilight's face contorted into a deep frown. She noticed that the amount of aircraft patrolling the Crystal mountains had increased tremendously. This could only mean one thing, that Nightmare Moon and Rarity were looking for them.
The purple alicorn still hadn't gotten over Rarity's betrayal, she was the princess of friendship for Celestia's sake! How could she not have foreseen this. She had been friends with Rarity for years and she was the most generous pony she thought she knew everything there was about the fashionista, turned out she knew nothing. All those fun times she had with Rarity like the time she and Applejack came over for a sleepover meant nothing, it was never real to Rarity. How else could she abandon all her friends so easily.
What she did knew was that Rarity and Nightmare Moon were reshaping Equestria in their twisted image, the magic of friendship gone. And she was powerless to stop it. When the Crystal Empire fell they had fled into the mountains hoping to continue their resistance but slowly everypony was losing hope. Except Pinkie Pie who seemed to have lost all care for what happened to Equestria, her friends or even herself.
It could be reasonably said that Pinkie Pie suffered more than any other pony, wanting to spread joy to others in a world where ponies only cried. It didn't take long for her mane to deflate and her smile to turn into a permanent frown. She ate and drank but other than that she just mindlessly looked in from of her, sometimes it was even difficult to tell if she was even alive.
Pinkie Pie had even enlisted into the army, fighting Nightmare Moon's forces in the fields. This only worsened her state and when Celestia send them north, Pinkie was a broken mare, a mere shadow of her former self. Twilight meanwhile spend the war as head of a magical weapons research commission. This was mostly a ceremonial function, as a princess she had to appear to be involved in the war but Celestia didn't want her to be in any danger either. The sun princess also wanted to keep Pinkie Pie away from the war and even had her placed under house arrest, but when she escaped her guards for the eleventh time it was clear that nopony could stop her.
The princess of friendship looked at her oldest friend, Spike, though she saw him more as her child sometimes than as a friend. She wanted to give him a bright future, not one under Nightmare Moon's darkness. Twilight couldn't and wouldn't give up, she and her friends had saved Equestria in the past and they could do it again this time, even Nightmare Moon had been defeated before. The future of everypony in Equestria depended on their success, even her mentor Celestia couldn't stand against Nightmare Moon's might. If they failed now after successfully escaping Nightmare Moon's clutches then all the sacrifices that were made would have been in vain. Twilight Sparkle would die before she let that happen.
Rarity was sitting in her car being driven to the Crystal City, the capital of the Moon Crystal Governorate. Nightmare Moon had ordered her to capture the remaining Elements of Harmony and she had made it very clear that failure was not tolerated. So the white unicorn had immediately ordered her airforce to intensify their patrols and when her queen's reinforcements arrived she would begin a large ground search.
Nightmare Moon's behaviour had made a big impression on Rarity. She had never seen her so angry and emotional, maybe the problems between the alicorn sisters hadn't been solved like Rarity thought. She hoped that Nightmare Moon's past trauma's wouldn't cause her to make rash decisions. Things have been going well since Starry Glory failed uprising. All they needed to do know was hold on to what they had. There was no need for Nightmare Moon to try and one-up her, but then again if her friend and queen asked for her help than Rarity would do all that she could.
However now Rarity had a more important task, finding her former friends. She hoped that Nightmare Moon's plan didn't involve their death's, she hadn't seen them in a long time and she knew that they probably hated her, but deep down she still cared about them.
Her thoughts were cut short when the car that she was in stopped in front of her palace. Rarity would worry about her friends later, first she had to find them. However somepony else had other plans. When she opened the door she was overwhelmed by a loud squeeky voice.
"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Before Rarity could even react, Sweetie Belle was already hanging around her neck, hugging her intensely. The foyer was decorated with balloons and a banner saying "Welcome back sister", there was even a pie. Rarity suspected that Sweetie had baked it herself because while it was poorly made it was obvious that a lot of love had gone in it, there were even two figures placed on the pie that appeared to be representing herself and Sweetie Belle.
"I heard some of the staff mentioned that you were coming back, so I decided to throw you a surprise welcome party."
Rarity had taken her little sister with her to the Moon Crystal Governorate when she got her position as governess there. Her parents were mostly busy with their work and she didn't want her sister to be alone in Ponyville. She would have been with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo but Rarity feared that other ponies might try to punish Sweetie Belle because of her decision to join Nightmare Moon.
However since Rarity's duties required that she spent most of her time at the Lunar Castle, she hadn't spend a lot of time with her sister, in fact they hadn't seen each other for weeks. Now Sweetie Belle was absolutely beaming with happiness and Rarity simply couldn't say no to that cute face.
"It looks fabulous darling. I see that you even made another attempt at cooking." Rarity cringed at the memory of what happened last time when Sweetie Belle tried to cook, she almost set fire to the kitchen.
"Yes Raven helped me with the baking but I made the decorations myself."
Raven, a white unicorn mare with brown hair, used to be Celestia's assistant but when Nightmare Moon took over she was fired. Rarity felt sorry for her and also needed an assistant herself, Raven had all the necessary qualifications so Rarity hired her.
Sweetie Belle ran back to the table to grab her cake, she had become quite proficient with her magic, grabbing the plate with ease. She heard that Raven had been teaching Sweetie Belle and had been acting as a sort of mother figure while she was gone. Rarity walked over to Raven.
"Thank you for taking care of my sister. Unfortunately my job doesn't allow me to spend a lot of time here, so I really appreciate what you are doing. You can go home now, you have earned the rest, Nightmare knows that dealing with Sweetie Belle can be quite exhausting."
After having said goodbye to both Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Raven left. Rarity took a slice of the pie. It was a traditional apple pie.
"Oh this one is good, your cooking has really improved. That reminds me, I heard that Celestia opened her own bakery, maybe I can take you with me to Canterlot once and we can try out one of her cakes."
The little unicorn's expression became much sadder.
"Why do you have to leave so often, we almost never spend any time together."
"Oh darling I have an important job now which means that I have to leave every now and then. But I realise that I have been seriously neglecting you these last few weeks, so from now on I will do my best to spend more time with you and less with work. You are the most important thing in my life."
"But when Celestia was princess you never had to leave and I got to be with my friends and have fun classes with miss Cheerilee. Here I am just alone and the teacher always has us do boring stuff like singing the national anthem and writing reports on how great the Lunar Empire and how Nightmare Moon is the best leader ever. We never do anything fun, yesterday the teacher even got angry at me for singing the anthem loud enough! Why can't we go back to how everything used to be."
Rarity gave Sweetie Belle another slice of the pie, which seemed to cheer her up a little bit.
"Because things change Sweetie Belle, we just have to accept the current situation how it is. But I promise you that things will get better. It is a beautiful day, how about we go get an ice cream to celebrate our little reunion?"
"Yes can I have strawberry flavour? And can I show you a new trick that Raven taught me?"
"Yes you can and I would like that very much."
With that the two sisters made their way to a nearby ice cream vendor. The trip wasn't very eventful, the Crystal Ponies had very quickly adapted to the new regime, Rarity suspected that the reason they knew that keeping their heads low and following the rules was the best way to deal with authoritarian regimes due their experience with Sombra.
Not much had changed since the Lunar Empire took over. The crystal heart was still present al though it didn't shine as bright as Rarity remembered. The only real difference was the addition of new moon inspired flags everywhere. Personally Rarity didn't see why Nightmare Moon made displaying the flag mandatory, but even she couldn't break the law and she supposed that it could help the crystal ponies to create a new sense of national pride in their new country.
There were also many soldiers walking around. In the official rapports it was written that this was because the crystal ponies believed passionately in Nightmare Moon's cause, but in reality Rarity knew that it was because the Crystal Empire was so thoroughly destroyed by the Lunar Empire's airforce that the military and police were the only jobs remaining that offered a decent wage. The buildings may have been rebuild but the economy was only slowly recovering.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle bought their ice cream and sat down on a bench. After Sweetie Belle finished her ice cream she showed Rarity her new trick, she grabbed three balls with her magic and began juggling them in the air. It was a lovely sight for the governess, seeing her sister so happy and proud. She couldn't help but wonder, how many more of these happy days there would be in the future.
The Crystal Palace was the epitome of peace and tranquility, the way the moonlight, and if Nightmare Moon wasn't around, the sunlight reflected of the white and blue crystal walls left everypony in awe. And this was before one of Equestria's most famous fashion designers was put in charge.
Rarity had worked day and night to reshape the Crystal Empire and the palace in her and Nightmare Moon's image. The Moon Crystal Governorate was to be a model nation, a place that would be an example for all other places to follow. Everywhere there were statues and tapestries depicting the struggle of the batponies and how Nightmare Moon and her followers liberated Equestria and the Crystal Empire from the tyranny of the princesses. The palace itself was decorated with tapestries depicting the moon and the mare who controlled it, Rarity even had an artist draw a map of the stars on the ceiling.
Beneath this thin surface of beauty and peace however laid a mountain of dirt, and Rarity was right in the middle of it. From the window in her office she could see the Night Guard rounding up ponies that were deemed disloyal and threats to society. Rarity saw a mother being forced into a truck while what she presumed was her husband and child could only watch.
What had she done wrong? The white unicorn wondered. It could have been anything, maybe she had the mandatory picture of Nightmare Moon hanged askew or maybe she had mentioned some of the actual problems that plagued this country. Knowing the Night Guard, the official security and intelligence service of the Lunar Empire, it could have been anything. That poor mare could even just have looked at them in a way that they didn't like.
Whatever the reason was for their arrest, they would be send to one of the many labour camps in the empire. Rarity hoped that it would be one of the less horrible places like Appleloosa or Ponyville where work mainly consisted of working on the farms, instead of the crystal mines her own country were the combination of the cold temperature and having to perform hard labour proved to be particularly deadly.
Rarity had tried to have the prison camps in her country shut down or at least tried to improve the working conditions. But her complaints fell on deaf ears, the Night Guard was an independent organisation that answered only to Nightmare Moon. She wished she could do something to stop them but she was just as powerless as those that were being arrested. Any move that she made against them would cause them to simply arrest her and replace her with somepony more complacent.
One of the prisoners, a light brown crystal stallion, jumped out of the truck and tried to run away. The Night Guard soldiers ran after him, shouting orders to stop running. The stallion almost made it to a nearby alleyway when of the the soldiers realised that they had rifles and shot the stallion in the back. He apparently survived the first shot and tried to crawl his way to safety. It brought a tear to Rarity's eye, seeing this stallion continuing his escape attempt despite it being obvious that he would never make it.
The inevitable soon happened and one of the soldiers trotted over to the stallion and shot him in the head, ending his suffering. The soldier called over some of his friends and together they carried the stallion's corpse like a sack of potatoes and loaded him on the truck and drove away. They didn't even bother cleaning up the blood.
The white unicorn couldn't help but stare at it. A beautiful light purple crystal pavement covered in this ugly dark red substance. Maybe when Nightmare Moon got over her business with Celestia and had calmed down maybe she could talk to her queen and try to convince her to stop this. Rarity was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Raven entering her office.
"Miss Rarity!"
Rarity almost fell out of her chair when she hear Raven yell.
"Raven you don't need to shout at me like that! I don't need you yelling into my ear like that!"
"I tried talking to you several times but you continued staring outside, is everything ok?"
"Yes I was just thinking about something. What is it you wanted to tell me Raven?"
"General Arctic Lily told me to tell you that he found your friends."
This time Rarity did fell out of her chair.
Fluttershy was sitting just outside their cave enjoying the view outside. For some reason the aircraft had stopped patrolling the skies this morning so they were finally allowed to go outside during the day. The view was magnificent, the light cast by the rising sun made the mountains look like they were made from gold. It was a nice distraction from the depressing situation that they found themselves in.
Hope seemed to slowly fade away from their group. Even Rainbow Dash the element of loyalty herself seemed to become tired of waiting. Fluttershy had tried to comfort her friend by saying that Twilight would come up with a plan soon, however she didn't even believe it herself.
She had never told it to anyone but she was tired of this war as soon as it began. The yellow pegasus had enlisted in the army as a nurse because of her experience with taking care of animals. She saw firsthoof the terrible consequences of the war, but she continued to fight because Nightmare Moon needed to be stopped. But now they had lost and Nightmare Moon won. In her opinion there was no need to continue the suffering for a lost cause, however her friends wanted to continue so she didn't dare to object and followed them.
There was also their loved ones, Fluttershy hadn't seen Angel since she left for the Crystal Empire, she hoped he was doing fine and that she would soon be able to see him again. They hadn't talked about it but it was obvious to her that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were also missing their sisters, or in Rainbow Dash's case, sister like figure.
Back in the Crystal City Rarity was sitting with general Arctic Lily inside one of the many barracks scattered around the city. Arctic Lily was explaining her plan.
"First pegasus division will stealthily take up positions around the cave to cut off all land and air routes. After this is done the eleventh infantry division will climb the mountain and secure the cave."
"I don't have any military experience but this plan looks sound. However and I cannot stress this enough, Nightmare Moon wants them to be taken alive. Failure to do so would probably end up with both of us dead, is that understood."
"Most certainly, we shall flush them out of the cave with smoke grenades and all of my unicorns have had extensive training in restraining spells. All non-unicorn forces have had increased marksman training and have been made clear only to aim at the legs."
She was no expert in military matters but the general looked to be confident in her plan so Rarity gave it her approval.
It was approaching afternoon and Fluttershy was still sitting outside enjoying the view. In the distance she saw a group of birds take flight. Must have been some animal that chased them away she thought. The pegasus was startled by a sudden noice, rocks sliding over the ground. The sound came from underneath the cliff in front of the entrance so Fluttershy couldn't see what made it.
Fluttershy's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to check out what made the sound. Slowly she shuffled towards the edge, her body shaking due to the anxiety that she was feeling, her heart was beating so hard that she thought it could be heard miles away.
When the yellow pegasus reached the edge she slowly peaked her head over it, looking straight into the eyes of a light blue unicorn mare. Fluttershy tried to warn the others but she only manages a short scream before the unicorn managed to hit her with a spell.
Rainbow Dash was taking a nap when she heard a scream that was undeniably Fluttershy's. Quickly the rainbow maned pegasus got up and grabbed her rifle. In front of the entrance of the cave stood a group of unicorns firing magic spells into the cave, one of them hit Shining Armor while he was trying to get to Flurry Heart and Cadence, causing him to collapse on the ground. Rainbow Dash found some cover and began to return fire at the enemy, she almost managed to hit one of them but barely missed, this did force them to take cover.
Before anypony could figure out what to do next, smoke grenades started to be thrown inside. Twilight and Cadence tried to throw them out of the cave but spells fired from unicorns peaking from the entrance walls forced them to hide instead. Pinkie Pie didn't seem to be bothered by it, she instead lay on the ground and fired at the attackers. Soon however the entire caved was filled with smoke.
"Everypony we need to try and get out! We each go our separate ways and we will try and regroup near the border with the Yaks! Does everypony understand?" Twilight yelled.
When nopony objected, Twilight gave the order and everypony ran or flew outside. Rainbow Dash rushed towards the entrance close to sonic rainboom speed. What she hadn't counted on was the enormous amount of enemies waiting outside for them. She thought they were fighting against a small patrol, but when she burst through the smoke she saw that there were hundreds of unicorns and earth ponies waiting outside for them and the sky was filled with pegasi. The rainbow maned pegasus barely made it outside before being hit by a spell and passing out.
In the Crystal Palace Rarity was anxiously pacing back and forth. She had just received a message from general Arctic Lily that she had successfully captured Twilight and her friends and Cadance and her family. Rarity had relayed this to Nightmare Moon who said that she was coming immediately.
But that didn't change the fact that her former friends would soon be here. What was she going to say to them? Was she supposed to threat them like friends or enemies? Should she even talk to them or should she let Nightmare Moon do the talking? And what if Nightmare Moon's plan didn't work out and they refused to follow her, would she kill them outright, throw them in jail or perhaps just let them go? Soo many questions were buzzing inside her head and she couldn't answer any of them.
"Miss Rarity they are here."
Raven's voice brought Rarity back to reality.
"Can you bring my friends to the throne room and Cadence, Shining and Flurry to the dining room. I am sure Nightmare Moon will want to also speak to them."
"I will do so miss."
With that Raven left. Rarity took a couple of minutes to calm herself down. There is no point in delaying this, I will have to face them eventually, she thought to herself and made her way to the throne room. The white unicorn hoped that meeting them in someplace familiar would cause some of their anger to lessen. While standing in front of the gargantuan doors Rarity took one final deep breath before opening the doors and walking inside.
There all her former friend were sitting in a circle in the middle of the room. All of them were wearing chains and Twilight even needed two restraining rings on her horn to stop her from using magic. None of them had received any lasting physical damage but Pinkie Pie looked more death than alive, just staring emotionlessly into the distance and her mane hung lifelessly.
The white unicorn still hadn't figured out what to say so she decided to say the first thing that came to her mind.
"Hello there."
Upon hearing Rarity's voice everypony immediately turned to face her, except Pinkie Pie who seemed to look through Rarity instead of at her. Twilight was scowling at Rarity intensely, like she hoped that her gaze would somehow cause Rarity too combust. Applejack and Rainbow didn't look pleased seeing Rarity, however their expression was more one of tiredness than anger. Finally Fluttershy actually seemed somewhat happy to see her former friend and even had a small smile on her face, albeit a sad one. And Pinkie Pie didn't even seem to realise that Rarity existed. Spike's expression was a mixed one, Rarity could see the delight in his eyes due to seeing the mare that he loved, but she also saw betrayal in him for joining with what he thought was the enemy.
Rarity didn't like seeing her old friends in chains like that so she ordered her guards to remove them, even Twilights restraining rings. This seemed to somewhat improve their demeanour, except for Twilight whose scowl didn't even waver. So the governess decided to lighten the mood with some small talk.
"Are you all doing ok? is any pony hurt?"
Before anypony else could say something, Twilight spoke up. Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Well I am honoured that the element of generosity graces us with her presence. After all you must be quite busy RUINING all that we have build. You are nothing but Nightmare Moon's little puppet, a pretty doll for her to play around with. So unless you finally wound the courage to do something yourself instead of following others like a little puppy, I will only speak to your master."
"You always did have a way with words Sparkle. However I would recommend using that skill for something other than insulting me or my friend or I will show you that the name Nightmare Moon isn't just for show."
There she was right behind them, the grand architect of everything that had happened the last couple of years. The one who managed to overthrow Celestia after an uninterrupted rule that lasted for more than a thousand year. Twilight couldn't help but be in awe by her majesty. Nightmare Moon was about the same size as Celestia, maybe even slightly bigger, she towered over every other creature. Her blue eyes had a slight glow to them and her dark blue star filled mane was so beautiful that it was almost hypnotising. And her slim figure and tall legs were also nothing to be ashamed of.
Nightmare Moon didn't show it but she loved basking in all the attention, she loved being able to walk into a room and have every creature look in awe at her. Normally that honour would be reserved for Celestia, she was always the centre of attention. Whenever they would enter a room together everypony would run up to Celestia to talk to her, and during balls Celestia would be asked by literally every stallion in the room for a dance while nopony asked her and she hated Celestia for it. Even when she transformed into Nightmare Moon again and took Celestia prisoner and released her, she managed to take all the attention with her little bakery stunt. Well no longer, it was time for her to claim the spotlight from her sister once and for all.
Nightmare Moon took a good look at the ponies in front of her. With them by her side it would finally be Celestia's turn to be stuck in the shadows while she got all the attention. Of course she wasn't going to tell the element wielders that, no she was going for something a little more persuasive.
"I ordered Rarity to bring you here because I have a little proposition that I want you to consider. I think that it would be good for the moral of my ponies to see the elements of harmony reunited. So I am willing to let you all free to show all ponies living in my empire that yesterday's enemies are today's friends and that it is time to move forward. I mean we all want the same don't we, an end to the bloodshed?"
"And what do you want in return from us?" Applejack asked. Her experience in the apple business taught her that nothing was ever free.
"I simply ask for you to publicly denounce Celestia's rule and pledge your loyalty to me. That is all."
This was a lot to ask, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all sacrificed a lot during the war so to denounce that what they fought for was tough sell. To everyone's surprise Rainbow Dash was the first to step forward.
"I will do what you want Nightmare Moon." She sadly stated. She then turned her attention to her friends, her head dropped down in shame.
"Please I know that it is difficult to accept but the war is over, we lost. I want to see Scootaloo again and fly with Soarin. I just want to live a normal life again."
Even more surprising than Rainbow Dash joining Nightmare Moon was Pinkie Pie standing up and walking with towards Rainbow Dash. She didn't say anything, she just stood there sadly. Not even Twilight could blame her for doing that, Pinkie Pie had fought harder and sacrificed more than anypony else, she deserved her rest. Applejack and Fluttershy now also found the courage to join Nightmare Moon.
"Ah am sorry Twilight, Ah just wanna see mah family again."
"I don't want anypony to die anymore. I am sorry." Fluttershy whispered.
Spike didn't walk over just yet but his pleading eyes made it clear to Twilight that even her faithful assistant had given up.
"Fine! But I only do this because I cannot continue to fight alone, not because I want to!"
"Noted, and if it is any consolation miss Sparkle, You held out longer than my sister." Nightmare Moon stated smugly. Which Twilight decided to ignore. There was only one thing on her mind.
Inside the Rainbow Delight, Celestia was having a small break together with Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. They were drinking tea and eating cake while Minuette was telling a joke.
"A new arrival to a prison camp is asked: What were you given 10 years for? For nothing! the new arrival answers. Don't lie to us here! Everypony knows for nothing is 3 years."
The three unicorns broke out in laughter but the former princess remained quit. Is the situation really that bad, is my sister really arresting ponies for the flimsiest of reasons? She wondered before Twinkleshine spoke up.
"Oh I know another one. Nightmare Moon is asked by a reporter wether or not it is true that she collects political jokes, to which Nightmare Moon replies that it is true. When the reporter asks how many she has collected, Nightmare Moon answers, three and a half camps worth."
This time even Celestia can't help but snicker. Suddenly Minuette, Lemon and Twinkleshine stopped laughing and quietly ate their cake or drank their tea like nothing had happened, but the worry on their faces was clearly visible to Celestia. When the alicorn wanted to ask what was going on, she was shushed by Lemon Hearts.
Celestia noticed that Twinkleshine was using her eyes to point at something behind her. At first the former princess didn't see what had gotten her former students so worried but then she saw it. Across the street stood a car with a batpony wearing a trench coat in it. The batpony looked at them for a while before driving off again.
"What was that?" Celestia asked.
Minuette nervously looked around to see if the coast was clear, before bending forward and whispering. "You have to be really careful around the Night Guard, normally they don't care too much about jokes but you never know. It is better to just keep your head down when they are around."
"Yes." Lemon Hearts chimed in. "I heard that Fancy Pants had to spent a week in jail once for simply bumping into one of them while walking."
Hearing this story almost made Celestia break out in tears, hearing the suffering that her fellow ponies had to go through and the realisation that it was undoubtedly worse than what her friends were telling her. It horrified her. But she also knew that crying wouldn't help their situation, her ponies needed hope and laughter, it was why these dark jokes existed. It is better to cope with the situation with a laugh than with a cry.
Celestia was brought back to reality when the bell of her bakery rang. Three earthpony mares, one with a pale yellow coat and red mane walked, one with a light pink coat and green mane and one with a darker pink coat and yellow mane walked inside carrying several boxes of flowerpots with beautiful flowers in almost every colour imaginable in them.
The former princess easily grabbed all the flowerpots with her magic and distributed them across the room.
"Thank you soo much for bringing these all the way from Ponyville, it adds some much needed colour to my bakery." She levitates a bag of bits and a cardboard box over to the three ponies. "I also baked you this cake free of charge."
The dark pink earthpony whose name Celestia faintly remembered being Lily grabbed the box and opened it, inside was a lovely chocolate cream pie with three cookies on top representing the three flower ponies. Lily couldn't help but smile at the sight of gesture from her former princess.
"It is no problem your highne- I mean Celestia." Lily said while nervously looking around to see if anyone heard her mistake. "Ponyville isn't what it used to be so we don't mind far away deliveries as much as we used to."
Celestia saw the sadness in Lily's eyes when she mentioned Ponyville, so the alicorn decided that this was her chance to spread a little bit of kindness and hope herself.
"You must be exhausted from your long journey, please join me and my friends for a nice cup of tea while you rest." She said with a smile while pointing at the table where Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were sitting.
The flower ponies decided that they didn't want to return to Ponyville just yet and joined Celestia and her friends. Soon afterwards the sound of jokes and laughter filled the room. They went on for hours, sharing jokes and stories and generally having a good time. And of course eating lot's and lot's of cake, or at least Celestia was.
They were having such a good time that they didn't notice that a new guest had entered until the light yellow coated mare called Rose turned completely white like she had seen a ghost. Quick as a flash she dropped on the floor and bowed down, loudly and dramatically exclaiming.
"Long live Nightmare Moon the eternal ruler of the Lunar Empire!"
Suddenly all the laughing stopped and the rest of the ponies present also dropped down, yelling similar exclamations. Celestia who was completely surprised by this turn of events could only slowly turn around in shock. Why would my sister visit me here? She thought to herself. But to her own surprise there her sister was, standing happily in the entrance of her little bakery with a smile similar to that of a filly who had just walked into a sweetshop.
The former princess was very nervous, scared in fact about her sisters sudden, however a thousand years as a ruler also taught her how to control her emotions and she wasn't going to be intimidated by her sister's dark alter ego. She looked to her friends who had all decided to hide behind her and with a serene smile on her face began to calmly speak to them.
"I hate to interrupt our nice get-together, however it seems that my sister wants to discuss something with me and considering that she came all this way to see me, I would hate to make her wait. So how about you all come back another time so we can continue our talk?"
The other ponies didn't need to think twice about this and they quickly said their goodbyes and left, not daring to look Nightmare Moon in the eye as they almost ran past her. After they left, Celestia decided that that the best course of action would be to do nothing and see what her sister wanted. So she simply walked to a nearby table and took a seat while gesturing Nightmare Moon to do the same.
Nightmare Moon happily hopped over and took a seat opposite to her sister. Using her magic she grabbed a cup of tea and several pies from behind the counter and floated them over to her, taking bites out of all of them. Celestia's eyes twitched, seeing her sister float several half eaten pies back behind the counter. But she remained calm, guessing that her sister is doing this to annoy her, the best way to answer would be to remain calm.
"I am guessing you are not here to eat all of my pies?"
"Why do you always think about me in such a negative way, maybe I am here to see how my dear sister is holding on during these hard times. How are you doing by the way?"
"As you can see my little business is doing nicely, I get to do something that I love and I get to see others being happy."
Nightmare Moon's voice suddenly became very bitter.
"I have most certainly noticed that. So now that I know that my dear sister is holding on, let me get to the reason of my visit. I know what you have been up to these last days!" She said while pointing a hoof accusingly at Celestia.
"What are you talking about I have just been running my business like an ordinary pony, just like we agreed to."
"Oh really! and stealing the spotlight and undermining my rule is just a bonus, is that it?"
The queen was getting increasingly angrier and Celestia didn't like it. This was the same kind of reasoning that caused Luna to turn into Nightmare Moon the first time, the feeling that nopony cared about her and that she was stealing the spotlight from her. Nightmare Moon continued her rant.
"I released you from your prison and what do you do? You go prancing around Canterlot like you own the place. Everypony here talks about you and how great you are or how you are so kind. It is disgusting, seeing everypony drool over you while nopony talks about all the things that I have done. I have build stronger country than you ever could and I did it on my own, only Rarity helped me, yet I have not heard a single pony thank me for that. Those ungrate-"
"Maybe instead only caring about power you should spend more time just being nice." Celestia muttered under her breath, but apparently Nightmare Moon had heard it because she was instantly in her face, seething with rage. However she quickly sat back down again and put on that filly like smile again that she had before.
"To help teach you a little lesson about treating your superiors with respect, I will take something away from you every time you try to take something away from me."
If Celestia had to choose she preferred the angry and scowling Nightmare Moon to this happy one.
"By the way Twilight and the other elements send their regards."
The white Alicorn's eyes snapped open. Did her sister manage to capture the remaining Elements of Harmony. Twilight was like a daughter to her and if the elements were captured than there was a good chance that Cadance and her family had also been captured. What would Nightmare Moon do to them, if she was serious about taking something away from her then harming her loved ones would be a good start. Considering the stories she had been hearing, Nightmare Moon would certainly be willing and capable to do so.
"Please don't hurt them, your problem is with me! If you want to hurt me than hurt me but please don't punish others for what I have done!" The former princess pleaded.
The black alicorn meanwhile was taking a considerable amount of pleasure in watching her dear and loving sister squirm. She could see tears form in her eyes and slowly slide down, ruining her make up. Normally Celestia was to most calm and composed pony but now she was reduced to a scared and panicked mess, and Nightmare Moon was enjoying every second of it. She knew her sister well and if Celestia had one weak spot it was that she loved her ponies like a mother. But unfortunately all good thing must come to an end and Nightmare Moon was forced to end her sister's suffering.
"Why would I harm them if they willingly joined me? Yes dear sister your precious student chose me, the elements chose me and I didn't even have to force them. Do you know why? Because I am better than you, where you are weak and indecisive I am strong and willing to make the tough decisions. The element wielders know that Equestria needs a strong leader, Equestria needs me. So with their help I am going to destroy everything you have build I will remove your legacy until nothing but a distant memory remains. You will remain here and watch me and the ones that you called friends replace your weak Equestria with my strong and powerful Lunar Empire."
The former princess was stunned. Had the elements really that easily sided with her sister, was she really that bad of a leader, sure she had made mistakes like when the changelings attacked Canterlot or when Tirek tried to takeover Equestria. But she had always told herself that violence was never the answer and that if she had build Equestria on a foundation of blood it would only lead to more violence down the line. Was she wrong? Was violence the answer after all? NO! she told herself, although she wasn't entirely convinced, because it are always the innocent that are hurt. Maybe if her sister realised that, she would stop this madness.
"You don't need to do this sist-" Celestia tried to interrupt.
"Oh yes I do, you have always outshined me, no longer me and my empire shall rise in front of yours like an eclipse and it shall be your turn to rot in the shadows!"
Not even waiting for a reply, Nightmare Moon walked out of the bakery leaving a stunned Celestia behind.
"Please sister don't do anything you will regret."
It was morning in Ponyville, the sun was slowly making it's way up and ponies were preparing for another day of work. The train from the Lunar Castle had just rolled in and six ponies plus one dragon walked out. The white unicorn at the front was telling the rest about Ponyville.
"I do have to warn you that things have changed since you were last here." Rarity told the others.
Applejack wanted to ask how so, but then she saw it with her own eyes. The town in front of her was nothing like she remembered, Ponyville used to be a colourful place full of happiness and joy, a place where fillies and colts where playing in the streets and the merchants would sell their goods at the market place and have fun conversations while doing so.
This place was the complete opposite. The streets were almost completely empty and the small amount of ponies that were outside hurried to their destination as quickly as they could, not making eye contact with anypony. It was like they were afraid that some unseen monster hiding in the shadows would snatch them away if they weren't quick enough or stopped to even look at anypony.
"RAINBOW DASH!!!!"
A happy yell pierced through the silence. Before anypony could react the blue pegasus was tackled by an orange blur.
"Scootaloo?!"
"I thought I would never see you again."
"I am back now, don't you worry. How have you been holding on?"
"Well things have been dull since you left but things are improving. Yesterday Cheerilee told us about the Shadowbolts and how they are the greatest flyers around, even better than the Wonderbolts! Next week they will be here for a show and our queen donated tickets to all the foals and fillies. Maybe we can go together!?"
Overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of her almost-sister, Rainbow Dash could only answer with an uncertain yes.
Rarity turned to Applejack.
"Applejack darling, how about you also see you family before I tell you what happens next? We will meet at the town centre in about an hour."
"Yeah good idea, I wannah see how mah family is holding on and how the farm is doing."
"Actually... your family doesn't own the farm anymore." Rarity spoke nervously.
"What!!! WHY?!"
"You should ask Big Mac. I only know that he sold it but I don't know why. They live in Strawberry Street, next to the mayors office."
The orange earth pony went on her way to see her family while the rest of the group went towards the town centre. It didn't take long for Applejack to reach Strawberry Street, she remembered Ponyville well. After looking around for a little bit to see which house belonged to her family, she saw her brother Big Mac cleaning the front garden of what she presumed to be their house.
Applejack immediately ran towards her big brother, embracing him in a warm hug. At first Big Mac didn't know what hit him but when he saw his little sister he couldn't help but cry a little. He hadn't seen Applejack for about a year, he didn't even know if she survived or not. But now he knew and that was enough for him.
"You miss me brother?"
"Eyup"
More words didn't need to be said by either one of them, they were reunited again, that was all that mattered. However there was somepony else who was a strong but most certainly not silent type.
"Applejack!!!!!"
Before she knew it Applejack had something yellow and red hanging around her neck and she could hear sobbing.
"You came back! Ah missed you soo much."
"Ah know you have sugercube."
It didn't take long for Granny Smith to notice that something was going on outside and she also joined the little reunion.
"It's good to have you back."
Applejack released a breath she didn't know she was holding. It was good to be with her family again after being away for almost an entire year. After telling her family about everything she had done while away, there was only one question on her mind.
"Why did y'all sold the farm?"
Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith shared a sad look and Big Mac spoke up
"Ah think it is better if ah show you."
Ponyville is not a huge town so it wasn't a long walk but when they finally got to the farm, Applejack could not believe her own eyes. Sweet Apple Acres was still there were it always has been and ground was still full of apple trees however now there were guard towers and barbed wire fences around the perimeter, and there were guards everywhere. Also instead of the Apple family working the farm there were now hundreds of ponies working on the land but all of them were wearing some kind of prison clothing. Above the entrance to the farm stood a sign saying 'Providing Happiness to Everypony'.
It was a sad sight to see. Even from a distance it was clear that most of the prisoners were suffering from malnutrition, some of them looked like they could collapse any second. The guards meanwhile were bristling with energy, constantly walking around while shouting orders at the prisoners. When one of the prisoners, a white stallion with light blue and white hair and three snowflakes as a cutie mark, fell on the ground, one of the guard immediately rushed to him. But instead of helping the stallion on his hooves the guard beat him furiously, the sound of which Applejack would never forget. When the guard was done he simply left, leaving the poor stallion where he lay.
"What in Celestia's good name happened to our farm?" Applejack muttered.
Big Mac tensed up and looked around to see if nopony was within hearing distance. Once he was satisfied he moved close to Applejack and whispered in her ear.
"After Nightmare Moon took over she started setting up work camps and putting prisoners to work in them. The Night Guard who are in control of the work camps decided that they wanted to use our farm, we of course refused but then the Night Guard took control of the farm and gave us two options, work with them or leave. So we choose to leave, we didn't want to partake in the torture of our fellow ponies."
This was something that Applejack could only agree with, to profit from the suffering of others was immoral and she was glad that her family rejected it. It also made her realise just how bad the Lunar Empire truly was. Nightmare Moon may have given many speeches about the rights of batponies and creating a just society. But those were just hiding the truth, that this was a nation of fear and suffering.
It was also at this moment that Applejack decided that she was going to continue her resistance against this tyrant. The only reason she agreed to surrender back in the Crystal Empire was because she realised that saying no wasn't an option, especially when her friends also surrendered. Of course she had thought about actually doing nothing and going along with Nightmare Moon's plan and just living in peace with her family and friends. But seeing what happened with her family's farm and the truth about Nightmare Moon's regime, it reinvigorated the flame of resistance inside her.
Meanwhile the rest of the main 6 were having their own tour of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were talking with each other.
"What are the Shadowbolts exactly?" asked the blue pegasus.
"They are the bravest and most amazing flyers in the world. They even have some former Wonderbolts in their ranks. According to Cheerilee, Nightmare Moon wanted an elite group of flyers within the Night Guard consisting of both ponies and batponies, to protect her. But other than guarding our queen and protecting our Lunar Empire they also perform amazing shows." Scootaloo told while bouncing up and down in excitement.
"How are you doing at school?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to figure out more about live in Ponyville.
"Well it school isn't as fun as it used to be because since Sweetie Belle left it is just me and Apple Bloom. Cheerilee had to leave for a couple of weeks when the school began again, she said it had something to do with being re-educated but I have no idea what she meant by that. Other than that we learn't a lot of new things that I had no idea about. Did you know that Celestia was a brutal tyrant? She always seemed so kind but Cheerilee told me that she used to imprison ponies that disagreed with her."
Rainbow Dash felt a weird mixture of happiness and sadness. On one hoof she was happy to see Scootaloo again and to see her being so happy and excited, but on the other hoof that what Scootaloo was so excited about, was Nightmare Moon's propaganda. It was sad to see that her "almost sister" had fallen in the clutches of Nightmare Moon's lies. Not that she resented Scootaloo for doing so. No she was still a filly and she would believe anything that a figure with authority, like Cheerilee, would tell her. And even Cheerilee was probably forced to tell those lies.
It was clear to the rainbow maned pegasus that not only had Nightmare Moon won the war but that she was also well on her way to win the peace. Part of her had hoped that Nightmare Moon was going to be a benevolent leader and that nothing would change except some cosmetic differences. But the more time she spent in this new Ponyville the more she realised that she had underestimated the new queen's cruelty.
Fluttershy was looking around, curious to see how her home town had changed. The building were the same as when she left, even some of the businesses were still active, like Suger Cube Corner and Dr. Fauna's clinic. The last one brightened Fluttershy's mood a bit, too many animals had suffered during the war and she was happy to see that some still cared about them. Her mood soured again when she remembered Angel. Fluttershy hadn't seen him since she left, if they were going to live in peace Fluttershy hoped that she would be able to do so with one of her closest friends.
After several minutes of walking the group reached a small cafe called "Berry's Fresh Refreshments". When the group went inside, Twilight Sparkle noticed that the place was mostly empty except for the owner Berry Punch, one mint green unicorn sitting in a corner whispering to a beige earth pony and finally a batpony stallion wearing a trenchcoat sitting at the bar.
The group took a seat at one of the tables and berry Punch approached them to take their orders. Everypony present ordered something to drink.
"Hey Berry, how has life been treating you?" Twilight asked.
Berry Punch took a nervous glance at the lone batpony in the corner before answering in a slightly louder than necessary voice.
"Things have been going great! Nothing to complain about. Under the reign of our benevolent leader life has only improved."
It was clear to Twilight that Berry was lying through her teeth and that the answer was meant more for the batpony than for her. Nevertheless she decided to play along.
"I am so happy to hear that."
After saying goodbye, Berry Punch left to get their drinks. This was also the time that Applejack rejoined the group. Flurrershy was the first who spoke up.
"How is your family holding up?" She asked.
"Absolutely horri-"
Rarity was frantically making shushing gestures to Applejack and pointing towards the batpony in the back of the cafe. Applejack may not have been the smartest pony but she definitely wasn't stupid either, and she quickly put two and two together. Applejack moved closer to the group and continued while whispering.
"Man family is doing fine but the farm has been turned into a prison camp."
"The entirety of Ponyville feels like a prison. I haven't seen a single pony smile. But the important part is that our friends are still alive." Fluttershy spoke up.
"I agree, things could have been much worse." Rainbow Dash said.
"Indeed, you could have been death or imprisoned. But if you want to stay outside prison then it is in your best interest to accept Nightmare Moon's plans for you." Rarity told the rest while using her magic to pick up a bunch of files from her bag.
Rainbow Dash was standing in front of the door to her office, 'Colonel Rainbow Dash' was written on it. Her uniform felt weird, it was itchy and it just didn't feel right. Nightmare Moon had seen it fit to give her a job in the Lunar Imperial Air Force, Rainbow Dash was now the new commander of the 24th training group stationed near Ponyville. Her office was quite big, the window gave her a nice view of the surrounding countryside and her desk was made of oaken wood with an expensive looking leather bonded chair. Overall it was much nicer than the living spaces at the Wonderbolt Academy. Yet it just felt wrong to Rainbow Dash.
The blue pegasus had just sat down when somepony knocked on her door.
"Come in."
When the door opened, Rainbow Dash was shocked to see who had just entered her office. It was none other than her old rival Lightning Dust and her former boss Spitfire. Though they didn't look as she remembered them, They both seemed to lack the fiery passion in their eyes that they always had, but other than that she looked relatively fine.
"Major Lightning Dust and major Spitfire reporting for duty ma'am!" They yelled while saluting.
It took Rainbow Dash a while to remember how she was supposed to respond and she quickly stood up and returned the salute.
"At ease ladies. What are you two doing here?"
"We are you'r squadron commanders ma'am." Spitfire replied.
"I understood that. what I meant was, why did you join the Lunar Imperial Air Force?"
Lightning Dust took a quick glance around, probably to see if anypony was listening in to their conversation "I didn't really have a choice. The Washouts were disbanded for not complying with the standards set by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and I was arrested. In Prison they gave me a choice, join the Air Force as a trainer or be send to a work camp. Ironic isn't it, I always wanted to be the best flyer and now I have to teach others how to fly while barely flying myself." She chuckled sadly.
After Lightning was finished, Spitfire started talking.
"When the Wonderbolts were disbanded I was put in command of a fighter squadron but the Night Guard decided that I was a liability so they transferred me here. I don't like it but this is one of the few jobs that has a decent pay."
Rainbow Dash noticed that they both made sure to keep their voices down. Something she noticed almost everypony did. Nightmare Moon must have a lot of spies everywhere for ponies to be this paranoid, she thought to herself.
"It seems that we are all here against our wishes but I hope that by working together we can at least make this job slightly less worse." Rainbow Dash spoke, she tried to sound confident, hoping that by doing so she could inspire her colleagues to be slightly less miserable, but she wasn't sure she succeeded at inspiring them.
After discussing business like training schedules and the tasks that she needed to perform, the three decided to make their way to the cafeteria for lunch.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was in her castle, inside the map room to be precise, with princess Cadance sitting in front of her. The friendship map didn't appear to be working anymore so the room was turned into an office instead. They were in charge of the new Friendship & Reconciliation Commission, whose job, on paper, it was to reconcile the relationship between ponies who were on opposite sides during the civil war and promote friendship between the two sides. But in reality they were just supposed to spread pro Lunar Empire propaganda.
"Soo... How are Shining and Flurry doing?" Twilight asked carefully, she hadn't seen both of them since their capture in the Crystal Empire and had no idea what Nightmare Moon had done to them.
"I haven't seen or spoken to them since our capture but Nightmare Moon has told me that she is holding them somewhere and only if I behave myself and do my job, she will release them."
Twilight eyes widened at hearing this, her own brother and niece being held hostage.
"I am sure that they are fine and that you will see them again soon." Twilight replied. She tried to sound convincing but she wasn't sure she pulled it off.
Cadence wanted to reply but before she could do so the door of the map room swung open and and an earth pony mare with a light yellow coat and red mane walked inside carrying a large stack of files.
"Good morning princesses. Here are the plans for our new communication campaign that you need to sign." The mare spoke, and after she put down the files on the table she left again.
Twilight used her magic to pick up one of the files and take a look at it. It was just your typical propaganda campaign calling for 'unity and working together for a better future'. Twilight sighed and signed the document before moving to the next one.
Fluttershy was sitting inside her home, brushing Angel Bunny while looking around. Her house looked exactly the way she left it, a book about bear food lay on the floor next to the couch, it was the book she was reading when Twilight bursted through the door to tell her that Nightmare Moon had returned and they needed to leave immediately. She had dropped it on the floor and left immediately. Even the door was still open when she returned. All in all her house was completely untouched by the war or anything that followed after.
A small tear left her eye. How naive they all were that they thought they could just use the elements of harmony and all the problems would be solved. They had no idea about the problems faced by the batponies, problems that couldn't just be solved by blasting someone with the elements. When she did found out, she stopped blaming Rarity for her 'betrayal'. Was it treacherous prefer one righteous cause over another? Fluttershy had never managed to find an answer. They all made their choices, now the all needed to live with them.
An oft forgotten group that was also living with their choices, were all the animals. The war changed them, no longer would they run towards her whenever she was around. Instead most would run away the moment they say a pony. Fluttershy couldn't blame them for the past years pony kind had brought nothing but death and destruction to Equestria. No wonder the animals were scared.
Nightmare Moon had giver her permission to continue to tend to the animals in the Everfree forest. So that is what Fluttershy would continue to do, care for the animals and hopefully help them through their trauma's.
Applejack's was doing the dishes in Berry Punch's cafe, her expression being one of utter disgust as she looked at her family's former farm through a small window. The file Rarity gave to her said that Nightmare Moon had given her some kind of important job at the ministry of agriculture or something like that, but the orange mare had no interest in working for a tyrant. So the moment the group split off she went looking for another job, something normal, something that in no way aided Nightmare Moon. Luckily Applejack didn't have to look far, Berry Punch needed a helping hoof to run her cafe, it was a good and honest job and the orange mare was happy to oblige.
Also speaking with the visitors also allowed Applejack to start getting some much needed information. Having been hiding in the mountains for soo long meant that she had no actual information on the Lunar Empire other than that Nightmare Moon was its ruler. It was only her first day but Applejack already learned a lot, she learned how order is maintained through sheer terror and intimidation, but also how the government wasn't as united as it seemed with there even being a coup attempt by radical members of the Night Guard. But most importantly Applejack learned that despite most ponies publicly praising Nightmare Moon, whenever the Night Guards are out of hearing distance the majority of ponies are openly against her.
While looking over her shoulder, Applejack could see Pinkie Pie slumbed over behind the bar, it had only been one day since they came here and the pink earth pony was already becoming a permanent resident of the cafe. The foul stench of alcohol coming out of her mouth was strong enough that Applejack could smell it all the way into the kitchen. She couldn't help but cry a little upon seeing the once cheerful Pinkie Pie like that. When Nightmare Moon returned and the civil war broke out the pink earth pony, like all of their friends except Rarity, joined the war against the Lunar Empire.
Applejack could still remember the night after their first battle, Pinkie Pie was crying her heart out, so heartbroken was she by seeing all the death and destruction brought about by the war. And who could blame her, she was the element of laughter, she was supposed to make creatures smile, not kill them. The only way to calm her down had been to give her a bottle of cider. And the worst part was that it did calm her down and she started to care less and less about laughter and joy and more about spreading death and destruction.
This was quickly recognised by her superiors and she started getting promotion after promotion and a steady supply of cider. But as Pinkie Pie became better at killing, she herself started looking more like a corpse. There were times, especially when it was dark, that Applejack couldn't even tell if she was alive or death. A part of Applejack believed that Pinkie Pie was death, her soul had died during that first battle, now all that remained of the element of laughter was a hollow corpse. To a lesser extent the same could be said of all her friends, no pony came out of the civil war unscathed, they all saw things they weren't supposed to see, did things they weren't supposed to do.
For Applejack this was Nightmare Moon's greatest crime. She forced her friend to go through the most harrowing experience of their lives and Applejack would see her pay for that.
